Kristy's Story

This was my first pregnancy, and I was scared. Could I be a good mother? Would I survive labour? Would I survive a CHILD? As the due date came closer and closer, I began to think harder and harder about my decision to have this child.

On April 8 I went to my doctor to get my usual weekly check up. I was 37 weeks along and I wanted the baby out! My doctor told me it would be at least a week before the baby came, after all I wasn't dialated at all. "But just in case", she said, "I'm not going to be here this weekend. SO DON'T HAVE THE BABY!" :)

We went home, passing through McDonalds to serve my cravings, and I had a weird feeling about me. We went to bed at about 1 am and I couldn't sleep.

"When am I going to have the baby?" I thought to myself (I believe in positive thinking so if I set a date to have her, I'll have her then). "Maybe on the 12th - I don't think I have any appointments after that, and the baby shower is on the 11th!"

"You're going to have me today.."

"What?" I asked myself. "Where did that voice come from?" I just COULDN'T have the baby on the 9th! The Doctor would be leaving! "Too bad, I'm coming now." I sat up in bed. "No you're not!" I said to my huge belly, "You're going to wait!" "Nope. You better get some sleep, I'm coming."

I lay down. "I must be so tired I'm delirious," I said to myself as I went to sleep. I wasn't.

8 am, April 9th, I feel a trickle run down my leg. "Sweat?" I asked myself. I wasn't having any contractions, and I hadn't been told what water breaking felt like, so I rolled over to my husband.

"Can your water break without contractions?" I asked him. "Mmurmph!" He said back. He was a great help.

I got up and called my step-mother, who told me to call my Uncle the obstetrician, who told me to call the doctor's office, who told me to wait because my water couldn't have broken. As I called my step-mother back, the dam broke. I think every last drop of amniotic fluid came out within 5 seconds. Yup, water has broken.

1pm I went to the hospital. It was a struggle to get my husband out of bed (he certainly wasn't one of those stereotypical fathers who rush so much they forget their wives - he wanted to stay home and sleep!) but we got going. I still had no contractions, but I wanted the baby out!

I got to the hospital and the first thing I see is 2 of my good friends waiting for me. They started to fawn over me and squeal (just what you need when you're in labor) so I quickly went into the examination room.

After 4 hours of fetal heartbeat monitoring, checking my dialation, and other fun stuff, they sent me home. Great.

My Dad said we should swing my the homeopath's office, and I said "Sure, what's HE gonna do?" Boy, was I wrong.

I don't really believe in homeopathy (it hasn't really helped me with much) but the doctor told me to take some Caulophyllum with every contraction (what contractions??) and gave me acupuncture. This was 6pm.

As soon as he was done the acupuncture I had a contraction. With in 3 hours I was having contractions every 3 minutes (less even!) No pain, but they were there. I guess I can't totally debunk homeopathy. :)

So we went back to the hospital. I won't get into the details (it was quite a soap opera - my step-mother arrived tipsy from a dinner she had just been to, my friends were playing the piano in the lounge, my husband was catching winks whenever he could) but at 4 am it was time for the epidural and enducing.

YOUCH! They gave me the epidural (the needle that was given to freeze my back was the only thing that hurt the whole time [excluding IV's] and I lay back and enjoyed. By 9 or 10 am I couldn't feel anything below my neck (I needed a lot of epidural because the baby was resting against my bum and it hurt!)

12 pm - the nurse tells me I'm 10 cm dialated. 12:15 pm - the baby flies out. The only thing that hurt giving birth was the shoulders, and that lasted about 3 seconds. I got 3 stitches, and within 30 minutes I was up in my room, walking around.

The pregnancy was hard (water gain, nausea, arthritis) but the labour was nice and easy.

And now that I've had her, my fears have disappeared and I've realized the way to be a mother isn't taught, it's learned.